SFG Teachers

Sneak Peek at Certified SFG Teacher Program

*We want to try something new for my blog each week. We are getting so busy with new ideas for 2012 and are very rushed right now. We are going to post just three subjects in my weekly blog rather than all nine at once on a Friday. Let us know what you think – would love to hear from you!

If you are new to SFG and especially new to gardening, you have come to the right place. Why not start with the easiest, simplest, most productive method known? Read below and if you are already a SFG, study all these advantages and pass them on to others.

I’d like to do something a little different this week, and that is to show you some of the material that we use when we’re training someone to become a certified SFG teacher. We start with a PowerPoint and I’m going to show you some of the slides. It will give you a pretty good introduction to Square Foot Gardening along with some of my personal comments.

The first photo above shows me in my favorite rocking chair next to a 4’x16’ classic vinyl box that is stepped up every four feet. I’ll show you more views in a later blog but this one is the most outstanding garden box that we’ve ever built. This was at our display gardens at Thanksgiving Point in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The wording shown is what’s important to you as a beginner. Can you imagine a beautiful garden where there are absolutely no weeds, no digging, no tilling…and I’m not kidding! The All New SFG system truly is for all people. In fact, let’s look and see!

Here are some very young grandchildren with a very mature woman. Some of our boxes can easily have a plywood bottom (holes drilled for drainage) and they can sit up on a table for sit-down gardening, or on a wall, for stand up gardening. Just think of the joy and wonderment of gardening that is shared between such diverse ages in this photo. I know because that is my Mother and 2 of my Grandchildren many years ago. The SFG System truly is adaptable from age 4 to 94.

Starting with very young children, I’ve taught in some Head Start schools and the first thing is to teach them how to count. Notice this is a 3’x3’ box because children can’t reach in as far as an adult, who use a 4’x4’ box. At school we like to have this demo box with a plywood bottom just so we don’t make a mess in the school room. It can be on the ground so they can kneel around, or it can be up on a table that they can walk around. The fun thing I like to do is ask, “Who can count?” and of course many hands go up. I’d pick one child and a corner of the box to start and ask that child to count the number of squares. Away they go until they reach the other side of the box, and hopefully they end up with NINE!

Then I take another child, who is just aching to be chosen, and start them off from a different corner. Well you wouldn’t believe the excitement that that child has, and all of the others, when they also come up with NINE! You can see the fun here of nine kids starting at a different location and they all end up (hopefully) with the same answer. It is a very learning and exciting experience.

For older kids, we can do some math by measuring, arithmetic, adding, multiplying, there is no end to it!

We’ve had many letters from children who say, “I used to hate radishes or lettuce, but now that I grow them…I LOVE THEM!” In this photograph you can see the pride and excitement of this child in something they have now grown, but can’t wait to eat! It’s also an excellent time to show the children the basics of cooking for those vegetables that need it.

This is one of our school gardens in Calif. I’ll bet some of you will notice that the grid is made out of string, which was from the very first book. Now of course the ALL NEW SFG book says, from our years of experience, string is no good. It sags, gets dirty, breaks, never replaced, and pretty soon you don’t have a grid. You know how we say, if your garden doesn’t have a grid, it isn’t ( I like to use ain’t) a SFG So we recommend that all grids be of some rigid material like wood or plastic, are permanent, and stay in the garden at all times. Click here to see a SFG grid in vinyl and wood.

We found from our experience with schools that the best thing to do is to assign each student their own Square Foot. Now think of all of the advantages if you were a teacher – or better yet a child – you now have to decide what you want to plant. Remember, every square foot is planted with a different crop. So now the teacher can go through a seed catalog with those wonderful pictures and descriptions they all have, and if possible each child could pick out just what they want to grow. It would be quite an order, wouldn’t it?

Of course the teacher would tell them from our Teacher’s Lesson Plan for Kids that – different from single row gardening – we don’t plant the whole packet of seeds and then have to thin 95% of them out. What a waste of time and money! We plant just a pinch of seeds in each final location for that variety. You will learn in the 10 basics section that seed and plant spacing, depending on the variety of plant, is either 1, 4, 9, or 16 plants per square foot. More about that later.

If everyone get a different package of seeds, why then the teacher could explain another of one of Mel’s thrift lessons, in addition to not planting all the seeds at once, only a pinch in each space, then she could ask them how to store the leftovers for next year. Do you know? Cold and Dry. You ask where? In the refrigerator, dummy.

Some of the lessons the children learn from their Sq Ft Garden are that plants are just like people, or maybe it’s visa versa. We’re all different, but we have to learn to live next to each other. We all have to learn to get along and yet we all need attention so we can grow as best as possible. Some of us won’t get as tall as the others, and some of us won’t get as…well, you get the picture. Some of us won’t be real pretty at first, but later we will blossom into a beautiful plant or person. So we learn patience. There are many other lessons and examples that a good teacher can show the children.

What do you think of our ability to teach so many different things from a SFG? Any teachers out there that like this idea? If you do, send me a message and let me know what you think.

10 Comments

[…] noticed that most of the girls want to grow pretty flowers. Remember when I highlighted the SFG Teacher's program a few weeks ago? If you're a parent or teacher, that will tell you why the seed catalogs are going to be […]

glenda priceMay 10, 2012 at 7:22 pm -

i have the book.iplanted a sqft garden.its awesome..do i have to become certified to teach this to an orphanage in guatemela?im in missions and am seriously thinking this would make an impact..any ideas? what would i need to take with me seeds? could i learn all i need to know from your book? i have planted one my self..thanks and blessings

Mel BartholomewMay 18, 2012 at 10:24 am -

Glenda,

I like your word ‘awesome’. That’s a good description of a Square Foot Garden. If you’re going to Guatemala and work in an orphanage, I want to help you. It would definitely make a huge impact. And it’s a wonderful place to start. In fact, I’ve targeted orphanages as the prime place we want to help when we go overseas. First of all, it’s children just getting a start in life. And why not teach them a lifetime habit and solution on how they can stay healthy and be independent and self-sufficient? Be a good lesson in life no matter where you live in the world. Next, most orphanages have buildings and a courtyard or an enclosed yard, which helps protect a garden. And also it’s close to the kitchen. They also have cooking and kitchens and food preparation. And if the kids can raise their own food in Square Foot Gardens, well how could it get any better. People that say we should keep sending food in boxes to the poor of the world. I say that is the absolute worst thing we could do for the long haul solution. Why can’t the world leaders see that? You do, I do…

We’ve converted SFG to Square Meter Gardens overseas for those countries that use the metric system. Why can’t they be more self-sufficient and eat healthier if they grow it themselves. So with that idea in mind I applaud you, what you have in mind doing and want to encourage you. We do have people doing projects all around the world, and I can put you in touch with some people that are either in Guatemala or have done projects there, that would give you a start. They would also have some ideas of how to work in a new country using a new method that would be quite foreign to those in Guatemala. We also have translated material for you to take so stay in touch. OK?

There are obviously going to be experienced gardeners and farmers who poo-poo any new ideas and want to tear up the land and put a lot of fertilizer in it. What to take with you, well you don’t need any tools…you do need the book and you need as much literature as we can find for you that is already in their language. As far as becoming certified I would much prefer that you do become certified, because then we will know that you know the exact system and how to do it. Part of our certification process is having you… think about where you are going to teach and what you’re going to teach people.

This is also for all others who would like to teach SFG in their neighborhood, state, continent or anywhere in the world. Believe it or not, SFG works even better in a tropical country half way around the world! It would also put you in touch with many other certified teachers who are doing different things around the world and would have good advice for you. It would also allow you to go into our For Teachers Only website and newsletter, it would be a big help for you. There you could enter any questions you are having and you would get answers from many very qualified and experienced people.

If you come to one of our three day symposiums around the country, look for the next one or closest to you on our website. But, you can also take a home study course. You sign up for that and then you just get all of the materials in the mail and study at home and send in your quiz and different final tests to see that you are qualified and then you get your diploma. You can take that with you in a frame and you show that and it will add much more authority to what you are telling the people in Guatemala.

Check on what seed you can take with you, but be certain to teach them how to plant seeds, just a pinch in every hole, not a whole packet down a long row. That is such an outdated method I can’t believe that our country and our experts are still teaching how to do single row garden planting a whole packet of seeds at once and then going back and tearing out 95 percent of the plants to thin them to the correct spacing. Why not just plant the seeds in the first place at the proper spacing for that plant?
See how dumb and even stupid row gardening is. And our experts are still teaching it. Hard to believe. Does that make any sense? Can anyone tell you that’s the way it should be done? And please keep in touch Glenda see if you can take that course and be certified, it would give you the confidence you would need to start something really important in another country. Bless you, and keep in touch. You might also be a winner in our new photo contest with your garden and that would give you some extra money to take with you. Be sure to check out our forum and our front yard garden contest to get more involved with SFG!

Hi Mel, Do you happen to have anything in Haitian Creole. I to am considered a short term missionary serving in Orphanages and feeding proframs since 1997. I truely believe starting SFG(s) in Haiti will go a long way.

I have found that if I get too many posts from a blog I subscribe to, especially those that send me something every day, I rarely have time to read them. The next thing that happens is that rather than letting my inbox fill up I start deleting them without even reading them, and finally a year or so down the line I unsubscribe.
It would be helpful maybe to offer us the chance to subscribe only to posts within a certain category. That way we get to control the volume of the information we receive.

Mel BartholomewMay 29, 2012 at 1:57 pm -

Andy,

Which subjects would be most interesting to you? What interests you? This is a great suggestion and something I will look into – I hadn’t considered it until you mentioned it.

Happy Gardening,
Mel

PMGarciaSeptember 21, 2012 at 9:42 am -

Hi,
I’m a 3rd grade teacher at William R. Anton Elem. School in East Los Angeles. All of 3rd grade went to Aga Day last year in Pomona. We heard about square foot gardening there and would love to create a garden at our school. Your site is great! Hope to learn quickly, and share with the other 5 teachers. Thanks
PM Garcia

Mel BartholomewSeptember 21, 2012 at 11:30 am -

PM–Do you already have the SFG project underway at William R. Anton? We would love to see and post your pictures! Let me know if we can help you in any way. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Ck my website to see that i am doing a lot of development work in teaching campesinos to produce food. “The secret is in the garbage” is my moto. i have taught how to produce their basics… plantain, casava, banana, yam and fruit trees . i talked against gardens as they were like “crackberries”.
bought your book. changed my mind. but,The campesino aint gonna buy compost or peat and …
What can we use with our compost. I am thinking river sand which is heavy but should be free of the nematodes and other nasties in the soil.

Mel BartholomewOctober 8, 2012 at 4:54 pm -

I’m assuming you can’t find or afford Peat Moss or Coir substitute and Vermiculite to add to your good compost. That, of course, would be my first suggestion. Next, I’d suggest not using the river sand, especially river or sea sand because it’s round and doesn’t let air flow through it. Inland sand is angular and sharp and is better for allowing water to drain as well as air to enter.

Usually when we’re in a country where you can’t afford or find peat moss/vermiculite, we grow in pure compost. Of course it has all the nutrients needed and because we never walk on our garden soil, it doesn’t pack down like it would in a row garden. It will become heavier than the Mel’s mix but I’ve grown in 100% compost many times in many locations. I’m not sure that your ingredients would provide all and enough of the nutrients needed so I woudl suggest adding more kitchen-type wastes like eggshells and banana peels, apple cores, orange and grapefruit peelings, etc. That would give you a more balanced and nutritious compost that would allow the plants to thrive. Hope that helps! Please let me know the results—Would love to see how it works for you so that we can share the results with others.

Is there a way for you to send me some pictures of your project?? I’d love to see them.